Roland JD990 vs. XV-5080 vs. Fantom X vs. XP-30

[sammytaters]

I am looking to purchase only one of these roland romplers. I prefer mid-late 90s dance sounds & nice pad patches.

In my head this is how I envision these modules:
JD990 < XP-30 < XV-5080 < Fantom X

Rationale:
XP-30 is better than the 990 because it has more sounds (and the JD forms?) plus orcestral & techno expansions. The XV-5080 is better than the XP-30 because it has everything (and it does and more?) Lastly, the Fantom X is better than the XV-5080 because I can load the exact same 5080 patches from rolands website into it.

Questions:
Does the XP-30 have the JD-990 patches?
Does the XV-5080 include the orchestral and techno roms from the XP-30?
Does the 5080 library for fantom sound exactly the same?
What am I losing from the XP-30 & JD990 if I get the Fantom X? Any cool patches or essential expansions (for 90s dance sounds and orchestral stuff)?

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by sammytaters

Does the XP-30 have the JD-990 patches?

No.

Does the XV-5080 include the orchestral and techno roms, built-in the XP-30?

No.

Does the 5080 library for fantom sound exactly the same?

Probably very similar.

What am I losing from the XP-30 & JD990 if I get the Fantom X? Anything?

Nothing. Three totally different generations of synths. You could probably go with Fantom and get selected JV / XV patches update (i believe it was from download from Roland).


For what i know - when it comes to quality, nothing beats JD-990 and XV-5080. If you have to select between these two, go with 5080. The rest of info is on this board (no more far than 5 pages in the back).

[sammytaters]

thanks don. I'm doing a cost analysis on these, and will post some graphs later.

Cost Analysis of XV5080 with expansions comparable to XP-30
XV-5080 (craigslist)$500
SR-JV80 Techno $65
............ Orchestral $69
............ Session $119
-----------------------------------
Total $753







Scoring
-----------------------------

XV-5080
Cost: $753
Sound Quality: 2 (1 lower sound quality, 2 for higher sound quality)
Patches: 1917 (1152+255+255+255)
Ease of Use: 8.0 (From Harmony Central)

XP-30
Cost: $500
Sound Quality: 1
Patches: 1,406
Ease of Use: 7.5

JD-990
Cost: $500
Sound Quality: 2
Patches: 192
Ease of Use: 7.6

Fantom XR:
Cost: $600
Sound Quality: 2
Patches: 1408 (1152preset+256 user)
Ease of Use: 7.9



Scoring the rompler's features (above) against the cost, the XP-30 is the winner.



So someone with a budget is going to be happy with the XP-30.




Someone on a budget that doesn't care how many patches are in the synth, will love the JD-990


If money is no object, but your NOT going to be bothered to get any expansions (who likes dealing with multiple sellers anyways?), the XV-5080 wins. It barely edged out the XR because people thought the 5080 was slightly easier to use. Obvisouly if you need USB and a sampler get XR. These are too close. Of course there is no attention to taste, so don't get upset.

If you have a crapload of money, the 5080 is king for using the SRX. Some of the JV expansions are sweet and from my ears regular Fantom presets aren't as necessary to own.

IF you still have trouble deciding, try this:

[rockmanrock]

I've learnt over time the only thing you can trust is your ears and what it's like to actually use, the specs are a red herring half the time.

[Mr Arkadin]

Jeez, graphs now. The JD-990 + Vintage Exp (and in my case String Ensemble card) is unbeatable. There you go.

[Disease Factory]

The filters on the jd900 are the same as the s770 sampler, so they blow the crap out of any of the new stuff, if you program sounds, the 990 is the ticket, because the filters are so damn good, really, some of the best digital filters i have ever heard.

the filters on the newer stuff sucks my ass! no joke.

[avebr]

Originally Posted by Disease Factory

The filters on the jd900 are the same as the s770 sampler, so they blow the crap out of any of the new stuff, if you program sounds, the 990 is the ticket, because the filters are so damn good, really, some of the best digital filters i have ever heard.

the filters on the newer stuff sucks my ass! no joke.

+1 thumbsup

The JD990 is almost as a pleasure to program as is the JD800 - actually it's even a bit more powerfull.

They both have their own personality and sounds great - really classic stuff.

I own both. I love both. I'll take them with me to my grave...


all the best,
ave.

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by sammytaters

thanks don. I'm doing a cost analysis on these, and will post some graphs later.

Amusing graphs. thumbsup

Over the years i've had:

JD-990, JV-1080, XP-50, XP-30, XV-5080, XV-5050.

I've kept: JD-990 and XV-5050. Reason why i kept 5050 is explained in the previous JD debates thread.


From first hand experience: if you want a lot of sounds and not the quality, XP-30 is an absolute winner.

It you want max quality, then go either JD-990 or XV-5080.

If you care for the high sheen filter sound, go with JD-990 as it can pull out the way XV-5080 can't. Tested them side by side.

But 5080 has much more waveforms (some from Vintage Expansion). And far superior effects and modulation engine.

[leaf studios]

The biggest issue is the sound quality , personally i have owned the jv880 , jd800 , jd990 , xv5080 and also tried the newer fantoms and each new machine sounds a bit thinner to my ears , a bit harsher and just a bit more processed.It all depends on how you hear things .I load a sound into the jv880 and also the xv5080 i have and the jv880 just sounds 200% better......they slowly dumbed things down with perfect circuits / specs and cheaper components ...the wew gera sounds good , much as vsti's do , as the virus ti does but i personallt prefer the larger odler sound - nord lead 1 vs lead 3......same old story - virus a ? blows away the ti in terms of how much body it has - its all thinning out each time these people make a new device.

Originally Posted by sammytaters

I am looking to purchase only one of these roland romplers. I prefer mid-late 90s dance sounds & nice pad patches.

In my head this is how I envision these modules:
JD990 < XP-30 < XV-5080 < Fantom X

Rationale:
XP-30 is better than the 990 because it has more sounds (and the JD forms?) plus orcestral & techno expansions. The XV-5080 is better than the XP-30 because it has everything (and it does and more?) Lastly, the Fantom X is better than the XV-5080 because I can load the exact same 5080 patches from rolands website into it.

Questions:
Does the XP-30 have the JD-990 patches?
Does the XV-5080 include the orchestral and techno roms from the XP-30?
Does the 5080 library for fantom sound exactly the same?
What am I losing from the XP-30 & JD990 if I get the Fantom X? Any cool patches or essential expansions (for 90s dance sounds and orchestral stuff)?

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by leaf studios

I load a sound into the jv880 and also the xv5080 i have and the jv880 just sounds 200% better......they slowly dumbed things down with perfect circuits / specs and cheaper components

They will sound 100% identical if you properly convert JV-880 patch. Because JV-80 has two resonance settings, Soft and Hard. Their equivalent on XV-5080 is as follows:

• JV-80 Soft setting, resonance set to max = XV-5080 reso set to 44
• JV-80 Hard setting, resonance set to max = XV-5080 reso set to 88

I came with this info by testing them side by side (JV-1000 to be exact).

Hope this helps.

[shanabit]

Dont forget that the XV5080 allows you to hook up a CD ROM drive and load up sounds from CD, AKAI or ROLAND format I believe.

I have a 5080 here, great box

[J20]

I am shocked of the findings found ITT!!!

I might be schmoking the good stuff I think because

I prefer the XP-30 and wished I never sold it when I did abruptly
back in the day...biggest mistake I've made

I've owned the Fantom X and some of the best recordings
I've done were on the XP-30, of course my sounds were tweaked and
edited much like my Triton Extreme was....

I miss certain sounds from the XP-30 I feel
I can't live with whenever I revisit my old tunes that were recorded.

The Spanish Guitar, drumkits, pads, strings were so damn warm...

Here is an example of those sounds:
Kindly have a listen and IF you hear some likeness in the sound
in other Roland products please let me know...I've been dying for an
XP-30 or perhaps an XV-5050:

1.) This is a song I called River...if you want to hear the intro it's #2
SoundClick artist: SecretSolace - Dream Sequence music that quantifies subconscious thoughts, feelings and emotion, finding an unknown

2.) Intro:
SoundClick artist: SecretSolace - Dream Sequence music that quantifies subconscious thoughts, feelings and emotion, finding an unknown

3.) This is another song done on the Roland XP-30, Highway1:
SoundClick artist: SecretSolace - Dream Sequence music that quantifies subconscious thoughts, feelings and emotion, finding an unknown


Not bad for a 15yr old ey?

[DevonB]

I have a JD-990, XV-5080, and a Fantom XR. Just get them all and be happy. The JD-990 has more 'sparkle' mainly because the internal sounds are not bandwidth limited by lower sample rates. (44k vs 32k if I recall off the top of my head? Don, correct me please...) It's very apparent back to back. I had someone over at my studio the other day doing just that, and you can easily hear that light 'gauze' over the speaker effect of the high end missing.

I had the XV-5050, and I know Don showed that its quality was better, but dammit, I sold my XV-5050 and got a XV-5080 instead; Working with a 5080 is just so much easier, and the expansion possibilities was MUCH better. I only had one JV slot in the JD-990 and there was no way I was removing the Vintage expansion card from that unit, period, ever, never never ever. However, The Strings card (JD80-04) for the JD-990 is way overrated. 7 samples for $200+ is just too much. Granted, the cello patch has the absolute best low end out of all of them (I also did back to back comparisons of all the strings on the JD, XV, Fantom X) but I actually preferred the XV string patches the best for a more 'realistic' feel. The JD-990, while sounding good for strings, was a bit 'fake'. Fake isn't necessarily bad, but... I did the "Wife test" and let her pick what sounded the most realistic without me prompting her which I liked better, and she also picked th XV-5080. I even copied and 'remapped' the card string sounds to the internal patches, and it sounded 'good enough' for me, but it's certainly different.

If I had to choose one, I'd probably go for the Fantom; great expandibility with SRX, most sounds from JV cards are on the SRX cards, the JV/XV patches are on the Roland site, and for the most part sound dead on (but keep in mind, you can't load in all 1000+ patches at the same time) and while it's not as 'shiny' sounding, it's still a great sound palette. I have the Orchestral, World and Dance SRX cards in mine, and have well over 2000 patches to work with. It's an awesome unit. I still prefer the JD-990 for the sound quality though, and with the Vintage card, you have another 510 patches to select from (255 are only available if you plug it into a JD-990). The JD-990 is going to have very dated-sounding natural instruments, so keep that in mind. The JD-990 is first and formost a pad/synthesizer beast, and at that, it excels.

Good luck on making your decision.

Devon

[Mr Arkadin]

Originally Posted by DevonB

I still prefer the JD-990 for the sound quality though, and with the Vintage card, you have another 510 patches to select from (255 are only available if you plug it into a JD-990).

i assume you meant to say another 255 patches to select from (510 total including the JV patches) and that you only get 255 if plugged into a JV?

[DevonB]

Originally Posted by Mr Arkadin

i assume you meant to say another 255 patches to select from (510 total including the JV patches) and that you only get 255 if plugged into a JV?

Oh man, did I butcher that one, huh? The Vintage card has 255 JV patches, and if plugged into a JD series synth, you get another 255 JD patches, coming to a grand total of 510 presets. None of the other JV80 cards are like that unfortunetaly! It's such a good card, and totally worth the $150 asking price they go for these days, IMHO, if you have a JD synth.

Devon

[Dubai]

Originally Posted by sammytaters

LOL!

[jeremysdemo]

Originally Posted by sammytaters

thanks don. I'm doing a cost analysis on these, and will post some graphs later.

Cost Analysis of XV5080 with expansions comparable to XP-30
XV-5080 (craigslist)$500
SR-JV80 Techno $65
............ Orchestral $69
............ Session $119
-----------------------------------
Total $753







Scoring
-----------------------------

XV-5080
Cost: $753
Sound Quality: 2 (1 lower sound quality, 2 for higher sound quality)
Patches: 1917 (1152+255+255+255)
Ease of Use: 8.0 (From Harmony Central)

XP-30
Cost: $500
Sound Quality: 1
Patches: 1,406
Ease of Use: 7.5

JD-990
Cost: $500
Sound Quality: 2
Patches: 192
Ease of Use: 7.6

Fantom XR:
Cost: $600
Sound Quality: 2
Patches: 1408 (1152preset+256 user)
Ease of Use: 7.9



Scoring the rompler's features (above) against the cost, the XP-30 is the winner.



So someone with a budget is going to be happy with the XP-30.




Someone on a budget that doesn't care how many patches are in the synth, will love the JD-990


If money is no object, but your NOT going to be bothered to get any expansions (who likes dealing with multiple sellers anyways?), the XV-5080 wins. It barely edged out the XR because people thought the 5080 was slightly easier to use. Obvisouly if you need USB and a sampler get XR. These are too close. Of course there is no attention to taste, so don't get upset.

Excellent work people!

So when is the next board meeting.....

keep shinin

jerm

[RobJB06]

WTF is that all about!!



OMG tooooo funny. Is there a graph for how ******** the graphs are?

EDIT: I remember as a young slut with bad GAS drawing LOTS of pictures of how my dream studio would look, this aframe with this keyboard, with this one and that one... this 20U cabinet, with this, this and that in it... ahhh those were the days... lol

Originally Posted by sammytaters

thanks don. I'm doing a cost analysis on these, and will post some graphs later.

Cost Analysis of XV5080 with expansions comparable to XP-30
XV-5080 (craigslist)$500
SR-JV80 Techno $65
............ Orchestral $69
............ Session $119
-----------------------------------
Total $753







Scoring
-----------------------------

XV-5080
Cost: $753
Sound Quality: 2 (1 lower sound quality, 2 for higher sound quality)
Patches: 1917 (1152+255+255+255)
Ease of Use: 8.0 (From Harmony Central)

XP-30
Cost: $500
Sound Quality: 1
Patches: 1,406
Ease of Use: 7.5

JD-990
Cost: $500
Sound Quality: 2
Patches: 192
Ease of Use: 7.6

Fantom XR:
Cost: $600
Sound Quality: 2
Patches: 1408 (1152preset+256 user)
Ease of Use: 7.9



Scoring the rompler's features (above) against the cost, the XP-30 is the winner.



So someone with a budget is going to be happy with the XP-30.




Someone on a budget that doesn't care how many patches are in the synth, will love the JD-990


If money is no object, but your NOT going to be bothered to get any expansions (who likes dealing with multiple sellers anyways?), the XV-5080 wins. It barely edged out the XR because people thought the 5080 was slightly easier to use. Obvisouly if you need USB and a sampler get XR. These are too close. Of course there is no attention to taste, so don't get upset.

If you have a crapload of money, the 5080 is king for using the SRX. Some of the JV expansions are sweet and from my ears regular Fantom presets aren't as necessary to own.

IF you still have trouble deciding, try this:

[atsushi_hoshiai]

Lol, thats cool! The graphs could be the base for a master thesis about this topic

But to keep it simple: just get a the JD-990! It is more like a real synthesizers. All the others are more like ordinary Romplers. Romplers are like hardware samplers - nobody would buy them nowadays.

As the others already stated, the JD filters are outstanding and the overall sound quality is outstanding too.

[RobJB06]

I like the XV-5080 too. Its very handy being able to read Roland and Akai cdroms via the SCSI port. Not to mention when filled up with expansion boards your pretty much covered when you want any S+S.
Ive got a JD990 too. Sold mine a while back, only to go buy another a few weeks later

Originally Posted by atsushi_hoshiai

Lol, thats cool! The graphs could be the base for a master thesis about this topic

But to keep it simple: just get a the JD-990! It is more like a real synthesizers. All the others are more like ordinary Romplers. Romplers are like hardware samplers - nobody would buy them nowadays.

As the others already stated, the JD filters are outstanding and the overall sound quality is outstanding too.

[tonevision]

From all the Roland romplers I only like JD-990 beacuse of the Vintage card , special designed for the 990 .

I remember a mks-80 synth-bass preset ...

[darthtrader]

Can any of you JD990 guys explain FXM? I'll probly end up grabbing one at some point but I've never really been able to understand what FXM is on the synth..
can FXM do simple 1 op FM stuff like the nord lead or virus?

[tonevision]

Originally Posted by darthtrader

Can any of you JD990 guys explain FXM? I'll probly end up grabbing one at some point but I've never really been able to understand what FXM is on the synth..
can FXM do simple 1 op FM stuff like the nord lead or virus?

FM ? Maybe AM

JD-990 is great for textures and is a professional encyclopedia of Roland sounds . It's a rompler .

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by darthtrader

Can any of you JD990 guys explain FXM? I'll probly end up grabbing one at some point but I've never really been able to understand what FXM is on the synth..
can FXM do simple 1 op FM stuff like the nord lead or virus?

No. It has a fixed second FM oscillator. You can however change its frequency and modulation index using the Color command.



Cheers!

[AcoosticZoo]

I don't get the difference between 5080 and Fantom when it comes to the on board sounds. Seems like there's a huge overlap. I've used the JV1010 and the XV 5080 and tried the latest phantom keyboard, and the are large no. of classic sounds that overlap. still they are good.

[KCJazzKeys]

I use my XP-30 for my second tier synth for solos and to control my VK8m organ module. With the Vintage Synth card installed I can cover pretty much all the sounds I need. My main board on the 1st tier is a XV88 with Concert Piano and Classic EPs SRX cards.

I do have one question....

Is there a way to load in the extra "Vintage Synth" patches that the JD-990 used onto the XP-30 via MIDI Quest or some other librarian? Will they even work on a JV/XP/XV synth? I'd love to hear what the other patches sound like but I do not feel like buying a JD990 just for that...

Thanks, Paul

[ozinga]

990 is very different from the rest and the best sounding.
I kept and still use my 5080 it is great for some stuff but I also have 3 990s with vintage boards stacked to get alot polyphony because 990s polyphony is very limited but thankfully it has stack option so you can increase it by chaining them.
Oz

[Dysanfel]

I am considering ditching my R8M and JV880, stripping out the Vintage expander card, and getting a XV5080. How are the drum sounds in the XV5080? Can I replace an R8M with it?

[Jauqq]

Originally Posted by DevonB

The Strings card (JD80-04) for the JD-990 is way overrated. I even copied and 'remapped' the card string sounds to the internal patches, and it sounded 'good enough' for me, but it's certainly different.

Devon

So you remade the Strings card (JD80-04) patches, but used the JD990 internal string waveforms to replace the card waves?

You able to share those patches please?

[WDM]

OK - LOL - to add more to graphs above.

If you love JD990 so much - get JD800. It would be much easier to program.

If you like modern Fantom XR - get Fantom X. It would be much easier to operate.

If you still in a middle between XP30 and XV5080 - get XV5080.

BTW - I'll keep my XV5080 forever... It's fully expanded with JV and SRX cards.
I am using it primarily as a gigantic sample library. You just browse through all 1000s patches and you will definitely hit the one you're looking for at the moment. (even if you don't know what you're looking for... ). Then, just adjust the sound a bit and you're done. Works every time

(Just for that feature alone - that giga rompler worth every freakin penny.)